pdfaPilot SDK
Fully integrated PDF/A conversion for long-term archival
pdfaPilot SDK helps you guarantee that your documents can be archived and viewed long in the future, fully integrated in your own solution!
Close integration
pdfaPilot SDK is a software development kit that allows for integration of the pdfaPilot functionality in the closest possible way inside your own application. Because pdfaPilot SDK doesn’t rely on command-line or hot folder integration, it provides seamless development integration with the highest level of control for the parent application.
Supported environments
pdfaPilot SDK provides a native C library that provides easy integration in C code or – through included header files – in C++ projects. Additional wrappers cater for .NET or Java environments. pdfaPilot SDK is available for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris and IBM AIX making it an extremely flexible way to integrate the pdfaPilot functionality.
Jumpstarting your development
pdfaPilot SDK comes with developer documentation but also with a number of extensive samples to show off the broad feature set of the SDK and to get you started in your development project. These samples are of course not production code, but they provide a jump-start for your developers that will facilitate quick integration of the SDK.
Great ROI with proven quality and reliability
Building on pdfaPilot SDK gives you immediate access to all of the PDF/A capabilities of pdfaPilot, embedded in your application. callas software keeps close tabs on existing and emerging PDF/A developments and makes sure your applications remain up-to-date. This allows you to concentrate on your own strengths while using a reliably, easily customizable library to take care of your PDF/A requirements.
The speed, quality and reliability of the pdfaPilot engine are undisputed; more than 60 OEM customers use the SDK worldwide; amongst those many well-known names such as Adobe, Foxit, Mitsubishi, Quark, Xerox. The list is a testament to the quality of pdfaPilot SDK and to the professional way in which callas software supports its customers.
pdfaPilot SDK versus pdfaPilot CLI
Because callas provides two integration solutions for the pdfaPilot engine - pdfaPilot CLI and pdfaPilot SDK – the question comes up which of the two would be the ideal for your workflow. In general the differences between the two solutions are minimal and in the end much will depend on your integration resources and your familiarity with command-line or library integration. Some of the important differences are:
- pdfaPilot SDK provides a complete set of callback functions to let you control PDF processing as it takes place. This provides a closer integration than possible with pdfaPilot CLI which relies on return codes and information through stdout and XML reports.
- Both solutions fully support parallel processing: pdfaPilot CLI through parallel processes (organized by the operating system) and pdfaPilot SDK through parallel threads (through the use of a special extension package bundled with every library).
- Variables to customize quality control and PDF fixing are supported by pdfaPilot CLI and pdfaPilot SDK alike. Additionally pdfaPilot SDK has possibilities to manipulate preflight profiles (allowing to duplicate, merge or modify preflight profiles in code).
- If your application already integrates with the Adobe PDF Library, pdfaPilot SDK offers the additional benefit of allowing you to open PDF documents with the Adobe PDF Library and then manipulating them with pdfaPilot SDK. This sort of cooperation is not possible with pdfaPilot CLI.
pdfaPilot for OEM customers
pdfaPilot is used by many OEM customers worldwide integrated into their own products, mainly for document and email archiving based on the PDF/A standard, and for analysis, processing and conversion of office and print PDFs. Our OEM customers’ products are used in government agencies, finance or in the industry for archiving, document management, email management, product live cycle management and much more. For more information, click here.
Pricing
If you are interested in pdfaPilot SDK, let us know and we'll make you a quote.
PDF Association brochures
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System requirements
- Mac (Intel): macOS, version 10.7 or newer, 64-bit-compliant
- Windows:
- Windows 7 or newer
- Windows Server 2008 R2 or newer
- Linux: The minimum required Linux OS versions are shown below (Linux OS versions with a higher number are always supported as well):
- Debian 7 (and derivates like Ubuntu 12.x )
- RedHat RHEL6 (and derivates like CentOS6)
- SuSE SLES11 (and derivates like OpenSuSE11)
- Note: other Linux distributions are also supported if the version of the glibc is at least v2.10
- Solaris (Sparc and Intel): Solaris 10 (v5.10) or newer
- AIX (PPC): AIX 5.3 (oslevel 5300-07) or newer
Close integration
- C library for easy integration in C project or C++ headers (through custom headers)
- Easy support for .Net and Java projects through custom wrappers
- Full set of callback functions to take close control of processing
- Parallel processing through multi-threaded library
- Perform preflight by running any pdfaPilot profile or process plan
- Generate an unlimited amount of preflight reports from a single preflight
- Duplicate, merge and modify preflight profiles in code
- Combine usage of Adobe PDF Library and pdfaPilot SDK
- Available on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris and IBM AIX
The best and most complete PDF quality control on the planet
- Checks PDFs for compliance to the PDF/A-1, PDF/A-2 and PDF/A-3 standard (ISO 19005-1, 19005-2 and 19005-3)
- Converts PDF files to PDF/A-1 and implements all necessary corrections
- Converts emails into PDF/A
- Converts PDF files to EPUB and HTML
- Supports all PDF/A conformance levels (from PDF/A-1b to PDF/A-3u)
- Improves PDFs to facilitate the creation of PDF/UA files
- Reporting of problems through different types of predefined PDF reports
- Customizable PDF reports based on HTML templates for maximum adjustment to your brand and users (including easy adaptation of colors, layout, icons and logos and textual content)
- Integrated fixes allows quickest handling of PDF documents
- Secured fixing by using PDF comparison technology; easily identify when a fix causes visual differences
- Build process plans: customizable lists of fixes that can be executed on PDF documents conditionally
- Guaranteed conversion to PDF/A by re-distilling (generating PostScript and distilling back into PDF) or by rasterizing each page with problems
Customize quality control and fixing
- Insert variables into checks or fixes
- Modify values for variables in each job
- Decide on the fly whether checks or fixes need to be run for a specific document
Benefits
Closest possible integration in your environment
- Real SDK (software development kit) – integration using libraries
- Control processing as it takes place through a complete set of callback functions
- Parallel processing through multi-threaded library
- Duplicate, merge and modify preflight profiles in code
- Combine usage of Adobe PDF Library and pdfaPilot SDK
- Native C library
- Support for C++ environments through headers, .NET and Java through custom wrappers
- Available on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris and IBM AIX
Quick development
- Easy-to-use SDK with full documentation
- Extensive samples to showcase broad pdfaPilot SDK feature set
Great ROI with proven quality and reliability
- Immediate access to all quality control and PDF manipulation possibilities in pdfaPilot, embedded in your application
- Don’t worry about supporting evolving and emerging PDF standards; pdfaPilot provides regular updates
- Built on the Adobe PDF Library and Adobe technology to provide conversion from and to PostScript / EPS, transparency flattening and more
- Used by a multitude of OEM customers such as Adobe, Foxit, Mitsubishi, Quark, Xerox
pdfaPilot is the solution for conversion of PDF or native documents and emails into robust, searchable PDF or PDF/A files for long-term archiving. It uses the same rock-solid PDF/A technology as used in Adobe Acrobat and is available for desktop use, through watched folders or ready for integration into existing systems through a command line interface or software development kit.
Fully integrated PDF/A conversion for long-term archival
Developing with pdfaPilot SDK gives you a seamless integration with your programs. The pdfaPilot can be integrated in a wide range of products and technologies, ranging from well-known desktop tools (Adobe Acrobat, Foxit Phantom or Quark Xpress) to very specific tools for a niche and specialist target audience.
One-stop shop for all your archival needs
pdfaPilot supports all three PDF/A versions and doesn’t only convert PDF files, but also office documents, image formats and e-mails (attachments included) to searchable PDF/A files. It converts e-mail files into a PDF file that has the visual appearance of the e-mail as it is viewed in or printed by such e-mail applications. Because the expectations can differ between different organizations, pdfaPilot uses a template driven approach (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) that allows extensive customization.
Configures your automation exactly as you need it
Converting office documents, e-mails and their attachments, fixing PDF files and converting them into PDF/A … all of these tedious tasks can be handled in a fully automatic, unattended way with pdfaPilot. By setting up watched folders, all files dropped into a folder, picked up and handled in a fully automated way.
Scalable when needed
To deal with the increasing workload, pdfaPilot was built to deal with changes in workload. Through a simple licensing change, pdfaPilot Server can easily be converted into a pdfaPilot Dispatcher that does load balancing across several systems.
User friendly and always in control
Whether pdfaPilot Server is used or pdfaPilot Dispatcher shares the load across different systems, setting up and monitoring processing remains user friendly. pdfaPilot simplifies this by allowing remote configuration and remote monitoring across the network. From the desktop application, it is possible to start a local server or connect to one or more remote servers, enabling local testing and configuring a remote server.
Makes your PDF document universally accessible
PDF/UA offers a unique challenge: part of the requirements can be verified by software, but the other part requires human intervention. pdfaPilot handles the first part of the verification process completely. For human verification, functionalities are integrated to view the document in a structured and highlighted web view. After verification, a full compliance report can be created.
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Talk to usVersion history
Showing the 5 most recent of 49 releases.
15.1.639
- Update of pdfEngine SDK is free of charge for owners of a
Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) for pdfEngine SDK, pdfToolbox SDK
or pdfaPilot SDK
Features
- Based on pdfToolbox 15.1.639 and pdfaPilot 13.1.385 (new features and fixes)
- PTB_MergePDF2: added flags (to handle different aspects like optimized or no optimized saving) into the C-API [CA1033271]
15.2.646
- Update of pdfEngine SDK is free of charge for owners of a
Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) for pdfEngine SDK, pdfToolbox SDK
or pdfaPilot SDK
Features
- Based on pdfToolbox 15.2.646 and pdfaPilot 13.2.388 (new features and fixes)
- Added PTB_ExtractDieline2 with Variable support [CA1033713]
Fixes
- Problem solved where Variables were unnecessarily evaluated twice [CA1033767]
- Problem solved where CF2 to PDF failed [CA1033672]
15.2.646.1
- Update of pdfEngine SDK is free of charge for owners of a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) for pdfEngine SDK, pdfToolbox SDK or pdfaPilot SDK
Fixes
- Based on pdfToolbox 15.2.646.1 and pdfaPilot 13.2.388.1
16.0.657
- Update of pdfEngine SDK is free of charge for owners of a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) for pdfEngine SDK, pdfToolbox SDK or pdfaPilot SDK
Features
- Based on pdfToolbox 16.0.656 and pdfaPilot 14.0.392 (new features and fixes)
Fixes
- Based on pdfToolbox 16.0.657
- Problem solved where regular expression error message was not provided using process plans [CA1033344]
- Problem solved where cloud-based License Server could not be used with Java API [CA1034013]
APDFL version
| Win || Mac || Linux |
| 32bit | 64bit | x86_64 | arm64 | 64bit |
| 18.0.5PlusP1g || 18.0.5PlusP1g || 18.0.5PlusP1g |
16.1.662
- Update of pdfEngine SDK is free of charge for owners of a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) for pdfEngine SDK, pdfToolbox SDK or pdfaPilot SDK
Features
- Based on pdfToolbox 16.1.662, pdfToolbox 16.1.661 and pdfaPilot 14.1.396 (new features and fixes)
- Updated DotNetCore sample to .NetCore 8.0 LTS as default
Fixes
- Problem solved where relative path not handled correctly in a process plan with QuickCheck step [CA1034470]
- Problem solved where email conversion fails with PTB_eerrCancel if PTB_eEmailOnErrorAbort is used [CA1034635]
- Problem solved where PTB_epfBarcodePreview fails with PTB_eerrProcessCommunication [CA1034381]